Track & Field Headline

Thursday January 12, 2012Demps Running Track for Gators and Plans to Pursue Olympics and Pro Career Instead of NFL

GAINESVILLE,
Fla. –
University of Florida two-sport standout Jeff Demps is putting away any NFL
aspirations to focus on his track career and a potential spot in the 2012
Summer Olympics in London.

Demps has decided
to run for the Gators this spring and then will seek a professional track
career rather than one in football. Demps informed Gators head coach Mike
Holloway of his plan in recent days after making a final decision after the
football season ended.

“Once I got
done with the Gator Bowl, I kind of already had my mind made up, it was just
when was I going to tell everyone,’’ Demps said Thursday morning. “I enjoy
track and it’s something I love to do. When I’m out here, I’m enjoying myself
and having fun with the guys. I wanted to come back and run. It’s somewhat of
an individual sport, but it’s also a team sport. You win championships as a
team.”

Demps ended
his Florida football career on Jan. 2 in Florida’s 24-17 win over Ohio State.
He began training with the UF track team this week and is shooting for a return
to competition possibly as early as Feb. 3-4 at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet.
The Gators open the indoor season on Saturday at the Alabama Invite in
Birmingham.

Regardless
of when Demps makes his debut, Holloway is glad to have the four-time national
champion sprinter back with the program. Demps is the two-time defending NCAA
Indoor 60-meter champion and flashed his Olympic potential when he set a
100-meter junior world record with a time of 10.01 seconds at the 2008 Olympic
Trials, challenging Olympian Tyson Gay stride for stride in the heat.

The Gators
open the season ranked No. 1 in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country
Coaches Association Poll released earlier this week.

“The
biggest thing for me – and Jeff and I have talked about this a lot since last
summer – I just wanted Jeff to be happy,’’ Holloway said. “Jeff has never
really been a full-time track guy. He has always been a guy that played
football and ran track. For him to have accomplished the things he has
accomplished is phenomenal.

“I’m
ecstatic. Obviously it’s big for our program. Jeff brings a different kind of
energy to the track. When the other guys see him out there working as hard as
he does, it gets them to step their game up a bit. We are a big family out here
and he’s a member of the family.’’

Demps said
he spoke recently with his parents and guardian about his desire to continue
his track career. While some saw his decision to return for his senior season
in football as a sign he was giving up track, Demps said that was never the
case.

Instead, it
was important to him to be a part of the team and he said he felt an obligation
to the program since he came to Florida more for his football talents than as a
track-and-field athlete.

“I didn’t
throw track out,’’ Demps said. “It was always something in the back of my mind.
I just wanted to go and focus on football and after the season make a
decision.”

To begin
preparing for his return to track, Demps has started his annual makeover from
running back to sprinter. The first task is to drop about 15 pounds from his
football weight of 190 pounds.

Unlike a
year ago when he began training for track still nursing a serious ankle injury
and other assorted ailments from football, Demps is healthy and ready to open
the next chapter in his athletic career.

Demps
finished his football career as the eighth-leading rusher in school history,
finishing with 2,470 yards and 23 touchdowns. He was a member of the 2008
national championship team and finished his senior season with 569 yards and
six touchdowns. Demps also was a dangerous kickoff returner, averaging 28.8
yards per return during his career, including a 99-yard touchdown return in
October against Georgia.

Despite his
accomplishments on the football field, the Olympics and a professional track
career loomed larger in Demps’ mind.

“One of his
goals is to be an Olympian and to be a professional track-and-field athlete,’’
Holloway said. “My job is to now help him get ready for that. We are going to
do like we always do. We’re going to take care of the indoor season. We want to
do this right. The other thing is that it’s going to be a long summer. We want
to be positive about this and we plan on being in London. We’ve got to be
patient and take things step by step.”

The
prospects certainly excite Holloway. He is intrigued to see what Demps can do
focused entirely on track. Holloway is an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic
Team whose primary responsibility is working with sprinters and hurdlers. The
fact he is also Demps’ college coach is an added bonus for the duo.

“I see it
as a blessing,’’ Demps said. “This year I can be patient and we can work on
more stuff just trying to perfect technique.”

Holloway
sees Demps as a sprinter just scratching the surface. Unlike former Florida
sprinter John Capel – he also played football and made the U.S. Olympic Team –
Demps has constantly juggled the two sports during his career.

“When
[Capel] did that, he wasn’t lifting the way Jeff lifts,’’ Holloway said. “Jeff
was never really separate from the football team. John would leave football in
December. The year John made the Olympic team he didn’t do anything with
football after November.

“What has
made Jeff unique is that Jeff has always done very, very good things in track
and field while doing lifting and other things that football players do. What
that tells me is that Jeff is a very special guy. If you can run 9.9 [100
meters] and run 6.5 [60 meters] and do the things he has done, training as a
football-slash-track guy, what happens when he is just a track guy?”